a resto shaman and "her sisters and her cousins and her aunts"

Archive for the ‘Warrior’ Category

A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by my Tauren & Highmountain Tauren Warriors. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

66) MARVELWarhelm of the Bold, Pauldrons of the Promise, Lost Chestplate of the Reverent, Replica Belt of Heroism, Legguards of the Emerald Brood (N), Replica Lightforge Gauntlets, Hyperion Greaves, The Willbreaker, Crusader’s Shield
This outfit was built around the chestpiece. The Lost Chestplate of the Reverent, shown in the center, is a sort of combination of the Templar chestpiece, shown on the left, and the Runic Plate chestpiece, shown in the right.
Plate kits usually feel like they need shoulder armor to be properly balanced, so I chose these small, cap-like shoulders that still display much of the color of the shoulder and upper arm part of the chestpiece. These particular shoulders were mail prior to the beginning of Legion, and I’m still sad that a mail equivalent wasn’t added when they were converted to plate!

62) Bronze Val’kyrShoulderplates & Treads of the Chosen Dead, Bloodfist Breastplate & Legplates, Gleaming Celestial Waistguard, Fists of Thane Kray-Tan, Lotrafen, Blazing Wings
A half-baked attempt to look like a Val’kyr. I initially thought to use the Glorious Breastplate, but when I tried that, I just couldn’t get the rest of the kit to work out at all. This chestpiece has a slightly better shape match to the Val’kyr metal bustier, anyway.
The effect is a little better on one of the more human-like races.
And yes, I put my Demon Hunter through the effort of getting this toy from the Darkmoon Faire many moons ago specifically for the purpose of using it in this kit.

61) Funerary Plate of the Chosen DeadFunerary Plate of the Chosen Dead (N)
Although my Paladin is the one who did the quest to get this set of armor, it seemed like my Warrior ought to be the one to wear it, to use it with the Fury Artifact swords.

There is among the tauren of Kalimdor a tribe named “Highmountain”, perhaps in distant memory of Huln and his kin. Along with the Bloodhoof, the Ragetotem, and the Grimtotem, the Highmountain are renowned as warriors who led out against and bore the brunt of the constant attacks from centaurs, harpies, quilboars, and gnolls. The most well-known members of this tribe are Jerrik, Melgromm, and Trag.

When, following Eitrigg, the warriors of the Horde assaulted the Broken Shore, not all of them were snatched away by Odyn’s Val’kyr. Among those left behind, fallen, was Kaiopeqa of the Highmountain tribe.

~*~*~

After raising General Nazgrim as the first of the new Four Horsemen, The Deathlord wondered if the Lich King had given her this power just to fulfil his ends… or if she could perhaps use it for her own, as well. For all of the tolerance and kindness that had been shown her by The Farseer and others, the friendships she had managed to forge — and despite having managed to locate and regroup several of the Grimtotem Ningha during her time at Frostwall Garrison* — she still felt lonely, somehow. Now, the burdens of being Deathlord weighed heavily upon her, and she desired an apprentice. Knowing of the warriors’ catastrophe from her friend The Battlelord, The Deathlord sent one of Dread Commander Thalanor’s aerial patrols to do some reconnaissance of the area and bring her back a test subject — preferably a tauren female, if they could find one. They brought her Kaiopeqa.

The Deathlord raised the Blades of the Fallen Prince over the corpse of the young tauren warrior and Kaiopeqa arose into undeath filled with horror and hatred and unholy bloodthirst.
The Deathlord promptly assigned her to collect the Maw of the Damned and Apocalypse. When her new apprentice had departed on these errands, The Deathlord heard the Lich King’s hoarse whisper in her mind: Very well, I shall let you have this one indulgence. But no more. This power is mine, to be used for my purposes and mine alone. You will use it only as I command.
The Deathlord replied: You are indulgent, my liege. I know how you allowed me to obtain these blades. I know how you permitted The Archmage to take Felo’melorn. I am satisfied.

The Deathlord watched and waited, patiently, as Kaiopeqa went through the same sequence of emotions as she herself had after being released from the Lich King’s grasp at Light’s Hope Chapel all those years ago. Horror and hatred sank into despair and depression. From those emerged, in time, a desperate need to control the sadism that had been inextricably imbued into the soul by the process of being raised as a Death Knight by channeling it into useful service to society**. When Kaiopeqa reached that stage, The Deathlord assigned Kaiopeqa and her tribesman Trag to respond to Archmage Khadgar’s request for heroes to aid the tauren of Highmountain.

The two Highmountain returned from Highmountain filled with more questions than answers concerning the origin of their tribe. More significantly, the experience had given Kaiopeqa a form of… not exactly peace… but consolation, perhaps.

“When I was in Tanaan Jungle”, Kaiopeqa told The Deathlord, “I saw the Eredar, and I saw the Draenei, and I felt sorry for what the Eredar had allowed themselves to become. It is better to be this and be able to continue to fight against the Legion, than to lie idle in the Earthmother’s Embrace and be unable to prevent all of our people from becoming like the Feltotem.”

~*~*~

* Aurochs Grimbane, Kaasa Blighthoof, Kilga Mourningsong, Tigar Frosthoof, and Tipa Rimehorn — all of them had taken new surnames that renounced their Grimtotem origins and embraced their identities as Knights of the Ebon Blade.
And then there was that taunka woman, Kaumaleia — though she hardly counted, either as a fellow Death Knight or as a friend. Kaumaleia had somehow managed to shake off almost all of the qualities of being a Death Knight except the unfortunate condition of being undead — and she managed to ignore even that most of the time, too. Kregga suspected that Kaumaleia had been one of the ice-shaman of her people before her death and raising, and that the similarity of that magic to the way in which a Death Knight wielded frost was what had allowed her to elude most of the corruption from the Lich King. Or perhaps the Lich King had never truly gotten ahold of Kaumaleia because she was so remarkably silly… Kregga could barely tolerate her.

** Death Knights love Dailies because those tasks give them ample opportunities to cause the suffering and death they require to quell their own pain.

A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by the Male Tauren Warrior. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

1) Pretentious PurpleReplica Soulforge shoulders & gauntlets, Saltstone chestpiece & leggings, High Chief’s belt & boots, Hammer of Grief
Perfect for a Warrior or Death Knight pretending to be a Paladin.
Because of the gender dimorphism in the appearance of the Saltstone chestpiece & leggings, I would not make this Transmogrification kit for a female character. Hence, the creation and boosting of the Male Tauren Warrior.

A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by my Tauren Warriors. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

59) Leystone ArmorLeystone Armor with Cloak of the Red Flight and Stormrune Edge
From the timestamps on my screenshots, I spent about twenty minutes jumping back and forth between Krasus’ Landing and Skyhold trying to get just the right angles on the animation.

57) Cold RageSteamsmith Helm, Unstable Slag Shoulderplates, Strength’s Supremacy, Gutbuster of Aldur’thar, Phoenixfire Legplates, Flash Freeze Gauntlets (N), Treads of Savage Beatings, Frostbitten Greatsword
I don’t care for the Highmaul/Blackrock Foundry Warrior set as a whole, so even though I’d collected most of the lookalike pieces as a side-effect of trying to get the whole Paladin-lookalike set from follower missions, I didn’t bother to finish it. During the WoW’s Anniversary event in November, I saw a female Tauren DK wearing just the shoulders from that set with some other gear — I forget exactly what, maybe some of the DK starting zone gear? Anyhow, it looked awesome — awesome enough to inspire me to start running the Highmaul and Blackrock Foundry follower missions again until I got these shoulders — which were the only piece I’d been missing from the set.

A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by my Tauren Warriors. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by my Tauren Warriors. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

40) Royal PeacekeeperReplica Soulforge Spaulders, Forgotten Peacekeeper chestpiece & leggings, Uktar’s Belt of Chiming Rings, Life Bearer’s Gauntlets, Windroc Greaves, Shadowvine Cloak of Infusion, Hammer of Grief
I had the idea to make a purple and gold kit to go with this purple and gold weapon. The relatively muted tones of the colors in the weapon prompted me to choose this chestpiece & leggings, which also have a relatively muted gold tone. I think that’s what saves this kit from being glaringly garish — though it’s still probably somewhat garish.

39) Oathsworn
The Oathsworn set is the gear that a Warrior is shown wearing on the new character selection screen. It is obtained in-game from the Warlords Garrison Salvage Yard.

36) Apolyon’s FuryFelforged set with Apolyon, the Soul-Render
This sword, claimed from Kil’jaeden at the Sunwell, somehow seemed the most appropriate weapon for my Fury Warrior to use with the plate Demon Invasions set.

35) Everbright Truesteel IEverbright shoulders belt gloves & boots, Truesteel Breastplate & Greaves (3-670), Admiral Taylor’s Greatsword
So I thought to myself, if I liked the combination of the maroon Elder Tortoiseshell and stage 2 Truesteel items so much, the combination of the periwinkle blue Everbright and stage 3 Truesteel items ought to be equally attractive. For version II, see the Paladin page.
While creating this outfit, I also discovered that with the new Appearances feature, Horde characters can now use the appearance of Admiral Taylor’s Greatsword for Transmogrification. Hurrah!

33) Truesteel & TruesilverTruesteel Pauldrons Waistguard & Boots (3-670), Truesilver Breastplate, Imperial Plate Leggings, Replica Gauntlets of Valor, Steelforged Greataxe (2-645), Admiral Taylor’s Greatsword
I especially wanted to use the 3-670 Truesteel shoulders, so the rest of the set had to grow from there. I really liked the similarity between the filigree on the Truesilver Breastplate and the filigree on the weapon and Truesteel armor. The Truesilver blacksmithing patterns are no longer available in the game, so you’ll have to find someone who already knows the pattern or get lucky on the AH. If you can’t find the Truesilver breastplate, the Chivalric Chestguard coordinates excellently with the rest of these pieces, though the overall look of the outfit will be darker.
Horde characters can’t use the appearance of Admiral Taylor’s Greatsword for Transmogrification, but they can equip it.Savage Blood Required: 105

32) Regal TruesteelSpaulders of Manifold Eyes (N), Truesteel Breastplate & Greaves (2-655), Elder Tortoiseshell belt gloves & boots, Crimson Silk Cloak, Ramkahen Ceremonial Hammer
This alternative combination of the Truesteel and Elder Tortoiseshell items was created by Silverblade of World of MogCraft. It was the best looking kit using the T12-Paladin (lookalike) shoulders I thought I’d ever seen, and it impressed me enough to actually go farm them up to make the kit for myself.
The only difference between this kit as I have made it and the way Silverblade originally designed it is the weapon. Of the weapons I already had on hand, I really like the royal scepter look of the Ramkahen hammer, and its colors coordinate well with the armor, too.Savage Blood required: 30

31) Truesteel TortoiseshellTruesteel Pauldrons Waistguard Gloves & Boots (all 2-655), Elder Tortoiseshell Helm Breastplate & Legplates, Stylish Black Shirt, Splinterspear Greatsword
Another example of the remarkable color palette coordination between Warlords crafted items and Mists items. The shirt fills in a gap between the bottom of the sleeve of the chestpiece and the top of the gloves.Savage Blood required: 60

A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by my Tauren Warriors. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).

30) Bronze ThunderDoomed Crown of Lei Shen (LFR), Contender’s Revenant shoulders breastplate & leggings, Truesteel belt gloves & boots (1-640), Tidebreaker Trident
This hat is so ridculously silly that I can’t resist putting it atop any armor that is the right shade of bronze to match it.
I originally designed this kit with Gorehowl as the weapon, but after having spent months farming Karazhan for the dang thing, when it came time to actually make the kit, I decided that I liked the look of this trident better. I also decided that the overall effect looked better with one weapon instead of two, so Keija has switched to Arms for the time being.

27) Chocolate-Dipped StrawberryPauldrons of the Wardancer, Bloodscale chestpiece & belt, Brutish pants gloves & boots, Pink Mageweave Shirt, Ironhew Cloak, Hammer of Destiny
My favorite part of “Love is in the Air” is that it gives me an excuse to wear some very silly outfits. I intended to just re-create the brown-and-pink outfit that I forgot to make for my secondary Warrior during Love is in the Air last year — but then I remembered that I had these shoulders in the bank, and I could not resist the silliness of using them to resemble the crown of sepals at the top of a strawberry…

25) MightyChromite Pauldrons, Burnished Breastplate & Legplates of Might, Belt of Might, Talonguard gloves & boots, Black Swashbuckler’s Shirt, Widow Blade, Flamescarred Draconian Deflector
The spikes on the shoulders of the Battlegear of Might have never really appealed to me, so I thought I’d try it with the similarly colored, but plainer, Chromite shoulders.

24) Amber is the Color of my FurySkybreaker’s Pauldrons, Silithid Carapace Chestguard, Sunscale Belt, Legplates of the Destroyer, Gloves of the Swarm, Bloodguard’s Greaves, Fool’s Bane, Mantid Sky Reaver, Klaxxi Tabard
While I was trying to decide which of the Klaxxi weapons to use for Keija’s “Wakener” set, I picked up this 1H mace in Karazhan. To my eye, it matches the style of the other Klaxxi weapons better than the maces provided by the Klaxxi themselves.
Although Keija originally chose to specialize as Fury for Titan’s Grip — why bother with one-handed weapons when you can dual-wield not one, but TWO big honking two-handed weapons? — this outfit concept convinced her to try out Single-Minded Fury for awhile. About the time that I’d collected all the pieces for this kit, however, Siege of Orgrimmar came out, and I ended up deciding to make that Single-Minded Fury set first.

23) Thunder Bluff Warrior of the InsurrectionVicious Pyrium Shoulders, any sleeveless chestpiece, Shattered Hand belt, Imperial Plate Leggings, Jade Tiger Gauntlets, Grim Sabatons, Thunder Bluff cloak & tabard, Ymiron’s Blade
The Thunder Bluff Warriors who are occupying Razor Hill during the Siege of Orgrimmar wear neither gloves nor boots. If you have invisiboots, such as Griftah’s Authentic Troll Shoes or Ancient Skeletal Boots, by all means use them! Keija does not yet have any invisiboots, not having obtained any either by raiding or by grinding the necessary Kor’kron supplies during patch 5.3, but the Grim Sabatons blend in with the pants well enough to produce almost the same effect.
The NPC belt is the same style as the golden-brown Shattered Hand or blue-grey Grimscale belt, but in a warm grey color that is not available to players. I chose to use the Shattered Hand belt because I felt like the warm tones harmonized better with the tabard & cloak. The Jade Tiger gloves contain both silvery tones to coordinate with the pants and golden tones to coordinate with the belt and tabard, making them the best choice of Keija’s readily-available gloves.
The NPCs carry Ymiron’s Blade + Saltstone Shield, a brighter recolor of the Angerfang/Splinterspear/Bladestaff Hammer that is not available to players, a unique and unobtainable 2H axe, or sometimes even the giant totem that every Tauren player character dearly wishes she or he could wield.

22) Chocolate-Covered StrawberryWyrmslayer Spaulders, Bloodscale chestpiece & belt, Brutish pants gloves & boots, Dire Maul, Shield of Maraudon
Oh oh oh! Oh no! I totally forgot that I had wanted to make this outfit for my secondary Warrior for Love is in the Air this year until after the holiday had come and gone. Fortunately, I had some screenshots of the holiday decor from previous years that were suitable for compositing.